Janas, cogas and Mommotti: fantastic Sardinia in a book for the little ones

After Sicily, Liguria, Lazio, Molise and Emilia Romagna, Sardinia is the sixth protagonist of 147 Mostro che parla! , a series conceived and edited by Teresa Porcella for the texts and by Ignazio Fulghesu for the graphic design, which aims to ignite children's interest in the immense Italian fantastic and folkloric heritage .

Each title - available in highly legible text and including a downloadable audiobook with QR code - presents the fantastic beings of the Italian regions, setting them in our day and always entrusting them to authors and illustrators who were born in those regions and maintain a visceral contact with their land.

The volume Janas, cogas, Mommotti and other fantastic beings of Sardinia (Telos Edizioni, 2022, pp. 80) is, therefore, a path that leads through the mysteries and secrets of an island that still hides and defends its origins , multifaceted , changeable, between sea and mountains, endless plains and sand dunes. It is the gazes and memories of Teresa Porcella and Ignazio Fulghesu that tell in words and images seven fantastic beings of what their land is .

Cagliaritana Porcella, by Laconi Fulghesu, accompany the little ones (but not only) on a journey that is an ever deeper immersion in the most archaic and primordial Sardinia , between the fears and desires of the human being, and where the meaning of things is revealed only at the end of reading the various stories.

So we asked Teresa Porcella what peculiarities the fantastic world of Sardinia has:

«In the meantime, it is very rich, both in number of creatures and in typology and is still deeply tied to traditional rituals and festivals alive and heartfelt. Sardinian fantastic, moreover, as a whole, has fewer elements linked to the pure marvel and much more elements linked to the uncanny or fearful. In this sense it is interesting to see that many beings with the function of scarecrow are female (sa mama 'e su sole, sa mama 'e su bentu, sa mama 'e funtana...). This projection into the world of the imaginary gives us testimony of the function attributed to women in Sardinian society: powerful and to be feared, but in fact, thanks to the fear it instills (on a fantastic basis), saving for children, who they are thus diverted from absolutely real dangers.
How did you choose the characters that animate the book?

«By mediating between those I knew from childhood and which resonated in me in a significant way (such as Saint Anthony and the little pig) with others known through study and generally less known (such as the green horses). Then, I tried to alternate beings male and female, human and animal, beneficial and evil. In summary, I have tried to give, in seven stories, a significant sampling of the entire Sardinian heritage. In this selection work, however, we worked as a team with the publisher, Luana Astore, and with Ignazio Fulghesu, the extraordinary illustrator who gave substance to the stories».
What is your personal connection with the fantastic world of Sardinia?

«It is a bond that has been built since childhood, first for the stories he heard, then for trips to the territory, which is always full of references (just think of the Domus de janas), finally for personal curiosity which, over time, she grew up through studying and comparing herself with fantastic beings from other regions. In general, I like to see how human beings, in different times and spaces, tend to decline the fantastic with common characteristics. And I like it even more to see how that common matrix is not enough to explain how deep is the bond with the fantastic of one's own home, which sounds and resonates with other vehemence. This is why investigating the fantastic in my home has always been a way to work on archetypes in a profound way».

Which characters in the book are you closest to?

«To Mommotti and Maria Farranca. Because in my writing they have a more theatrical connotation that I enjoy putting into voice and on stage and because I see that it involves boys and girls in a full way. Then, I've always been fond of the Janas, for the magic they bring with them and also for their dual nature: bonas and malas Janas. Because even fairies, like all women, can be benevolent or malevolent depending on how you treat them».

What can the fantastic of tradition pass on to the new generations?

«What the fantastic has always transmitted to all generations: the sense of mystery, the value of the symbolic as the root of the human being, the affection for a complex imaginary that sounds in the mother tongue, the one capable of taking us back to the origins of ourselves. In this sense, the fact that the volume (like all those in the series) has a QR code with the audiobook is an important added value: it brings us back to the oral tradition that substantiates the transmission of the fantastic. Even the general system of the series - which provides that the stories set fantastic beings in the contemporary world, then giving the historical characteristics in a subsequent identikit - ensures that narration and disclosure (both present in the volume) do not affect the traditional legends. The latter are left as research ground to the reader, who is invited to write a story in the book itself, the eighth, which will make his book unique and very personal. In short, I hope this is a way to bring the past and present into continuity in a lively way».